The combination of lack of critical thinking and scruples, as well as a significant dose of lies, are cutting short the urgent need to promote a plan that guarantees universal and quality education for children and adolescents in Paraguay.
For a few weeks the situation became intolerable. We have already crossed the line of unfounded criticism to move to that of lying and, what is worse, to approve legislation that reduces the already scarce resources allocated to education in Paraguay.
For years a sector of society has been criticizing concepts without knowing them or providing evidence of the existence of serious literature to support their arguments. By appealing to religion, in a state that is constitutionally declared secular, they try to impose their ideas which in many cases are also distorted, if one considers the positioning of the authorities at the global level of those same groups.
An infinity of almost medieval expressions and close to extremely aggressive and violent theocracies today that are on the agenda thanks to politicians whose only goal is to position themselves to win votes. In parallel, another group of people who define themselves as “familiar” with the now famous Transformation Education Plan, which, in addition to not including the contents indicated, is not even ambitious compared to the minimum objectives that the country requires.
Getting out of the educational hole we’re in requires setting a goal of universal coverage and graduation, as well as a substantial increase in the quality of learning. Currently about a third of adolescents are excluded from secondary school, only 60% of children who start first grade finish secondary school and what they learn in school does not even reach the minimum level of the regional average.
Paraguay invests about 3% of its GDP in education, the Ministry of Education and other institutions involved have about 2.8% compared to international experience which tells us that a minimum of 6% is needed.
Despite this, a group of irresponsible parliamentarians, with no commitment to the country and its children and adolescents, allow themselves the luxury of rejecting appeals on electoral grounds. Some of these politicians had already approved when they were parliamentarians or had used those resources when they were ministerial authorities, which shows the falsehood and opportunism of their current actions.
Furthermore, the European Union also supports the economic sector for productivity improvement and similarly the government of Taiwan, Japan, Germany and other countries supports education through various mechanisms. However, these are not grounds for refusal.
European Union cooperation in the form of budget support has been in place in Paraguay since the beginning of this century. These funds are part of what is called Official Development Aid, through which countries with the highest level of development cooperate with other countries in the world. Budget support is one of the mechanisms for strengthening cooperation links, such as scholarships, cultural exchanges or technical cooperation.
All these actions are part of the bonds that nations establish because we share the same world and, therefore, we should care that we are all well, regardless of the country we were born in. Hopefully, once the inmates are gone, sanity and concern for the common good will return. We all deserve a better country.
